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Azamgarh youth held for posting morphed video of two sisters on TikTok
Police said the TikTok operators were also asked to explain due diligence being followed by them to check such criminal act and why the application should not be charged under section 3(2) (c) and Section 85 of Information Technology Act 2009 (Amended).
An 18-year-old class 12 youth of Azamgarh was arrested on Tuesday for allegedly morphing video of two sisters (cousins), both 18, and uploading it on TikTok— a Chinese social media video app—and also on social networking site Facebook, Azamgarh police said.
Police officials said the youth Pankaj Sahani of Mahula in Azamgarh district was booked under Sections 420 (cheating), 294 (obscene acts and singing obscene song) of the Indian Penal Code as well as under section 66-E of the Information Technology Act for sharing it on social media.
Confirming the arrest, superintendent of police, Azamgarh Triveni Singh said, ““The district police have sent a notice to TikTok operators for misuse of the application and their failure in restricting such activities.”
“We have sought explanation from them for allowing the platform to operate such criminal activities and also asked them about how it will be ensured that no objectionable or obscene content is uploaded on this platform in future,” he said.
He said the TikTok operators were also asked to explain due diligence being followed by them to check such criminal act and why the application should not be charged under section 3(2) (c) and Section 85 of Information Technology Act 2009 (Amended).
Singh said the accused revealed during interrogation that he met the two girls in his maternal uncle’s wedding in Ballia recently.
He said the accused clicked some pictures of the girls of Mau district during the marriage and later morphed them and prepared a TikTok video by mixing his pictures and those of the girls. He later posted the same video on a Facebook account created with fake identity of one Monika Kumari, he explained.
The SP said Sahani’s arrest has exposed multiple loopholes in the platform which violates privacy and security. He said the cyber laws and e-security wing of the ministry of electronics and information technology had issued a notice to the operators of TikTok app earlier this year to respond to concerns that they were being used to commit anti-Indian and unlawful activities.
He said the ministry had sent a list of questions and warned if appropriate response was not received, the app platforms may face a ban or action as per the relevant provisions of the IT Act and other laws.
The SP said the case came to light when the two cousin sisters of Mau district found their morphed video circulated on social media platforms. He said the accused was arrested from Bankat Bazaar locality after registering the FIR against him at Mubarakpur police station on the complaint of the girls’ family.
